Creatively Reflecting and a Wedding Card

It is Tuesday here in blogland. The weather has been AWFUL here but I am loving it. I am so happy to have RAIN!! I think that I will feel this way every time it rains because of the drought in California. I am grateful for the little drops that water my plants and help me go through my daily life. Water is such a precious resource that we take for granted.

I have been browsing a lot of card blogs over the last few days. Sometimes looking at other people's work makes me doubt my own creative abilities. I see all these great designers on design teams or go to challenge blogs and then compare myself to what other people create. Then I lose my mojo or start second guessing what I am making at the time. This is something that frustrates me about myself.  I do not compare myself to others as a rule because I am not someone else. I try to be the best of ME that I can be. Sometimes I am good at it, sometimes I am not. Today is one of those days that I am feeling kind of not so good.

On another note, a bunch of companies are coming out with some incredible products. My Favorite Things is releasing their June collections tonight. I am loving their new "Penguins in Paradise" set. Instead of winter, it is filled with the most adorable beach themed images...with penguins!!

I am also looking forward to WPlus9's release. I so want the "Happy Mail" set that features the cutest bears and birds. However, my favorite is the "Party Animal" set that features the  most adorable giraffes. I know a friend that LOVES giraffes and think it would be so fun to create a set of cards for her.

Okay, now to sharing a card that I created for a friend who wanted a wedding card. I used Paper Trey Ink's "Make it Market Mini: Garden Gild" for everything on this card. I ADORE the cover plate and the fun die cut flowers that come with it!! It just screamed wedding to me.

Since it was for a wedding, I chose to make the card mostly white with little touches of color. I embossed the "love" in gold to make it stand out and used gold enamel dots from the kit for two of the flowers to form a visual triangle.

I added the extra flower die cuts over the flowers from the cover plate. I then used colored rhinestones as middles to specific types of flower.

All in all, I was really happy with how this card came out and my friend loved it too. As long as the customer likes it, then all is well.

I think I will be making a few of these to have in my own stash. I do have some weddings coming up.

That is all for today. I thank you for stopping by. Have a great night!!

Supplies:

All supplies are from Paper Trey Ink except the blue rhinestones (Basic Grey), clear rhinestones (Michael's), gold embossing powder (Ranger Ink)

Retro Sketch #165 With Lawn Fawn

Hey everyone!! I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend. It is nice and sunny, but a bit humid today. I am kind of laying low and doing lots of laundry.

This week went by fast and I am hoping that next week is even faster. I so want school to be over already. EVERYONE has checked out and it is so hard to motivate with the weather being so nice.

Today I am sharing a card I created using a sketch from Retro Sketch Challenge Blog. I always love their sketches!!

I had fun using my new Lawn Fawn stamps and dies. "Baked with Love" was the set that I was coloring in this post and I decided to use a few images to create the birthday card below.

First I cut a piece of orange Lawn Fawn patterned paper for the background. I love the Pint Sized Patterned Beachside paper pad. It has such fun patterns and colors that are perfect for card making!!

I then used a Lawn Fawn "Stitched Scallop Border" to die cut a piece of patterned paper from Basic Grey's "Vivienne" collection.

I used Pretty Pink Posh's "Stitched Film Strip" die to cut out the white frame and then ran it through my Big Shot again to cut a piece of fun foam.

I have had this die for months and have never used it. I thought this would be the perfect accent to go with the sketch.

With all my pieces cut out, it was time to assemble the card. I used Retro Sketch #165 as the basic design for my card.

I used the sketch to layer all my patterned paper pieces and the film strip together. I was going to make a shaker card at first and then decided against it. I did use a piece of acetate between the fun foam and white frame so that the die cut, stamped images had a resting place.

My last step was to cover the cup cake in Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

I think this card came out so cute and had so much fun using Lawn Fawn's Baked with Love stamp and die set. I cannot wait to make some more cards with the other images I colored in!!

I am entering this into the Retro Sketch #165 Challenge, Simon Says "Anything Goes" Wednesday Challenge, "Seize the Birthday "(anything goes), and a Blog Named Hero's "New" Challenge. I sure used a ton of new products on this card from the Lawn Fawn Stamps to my Pretty Pink Posh stitched film strip die.

I thank you for taking the time to stop by. Have a great day!!

Flash Back Friday

Happy Friday everyone!! This week is finally over!!

A few things that I did this week was to see "Pitch Perfect 2" with Charlotte, my niece and my nephew. I have to admit that I liked it but thought it would be a bit better then it was. It was fun to go to the movies, though, something I love to do.

On Wednesday I went on a field trip to NYC with work. The kids got to attend some great work shops for acting. I attended the "Stage-Combat" workshop (this was the class my student chose to attend). It was fabulous! So interesting to learn that a lot of what is seen is really the "victim" moving the physical action rather then the aggressor. We then went to see "Les Miserables" on Broadway. It was a LONG but really enjoyable day.

Today I am posting a card that I created for someone that I work with. Their instructions were to make it "really girly." I chose to use the dress stamp from the retired Stampin Up! set "Haute Couture" as the inspiration for my card.

I stamped it in Momento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it in using Copic Markers. (RV04, RV06, RV09 and RV13) I love the vibrant pink!! I then stamped the sentiment with the same black ink and added some "Glam Pink" Stickles glitter glue onto the dress to give it a bit of sparkle.

I took these photos at night so the glitter really shows up but in real life, it is more of an accent and it matches the pink of the Copic markers almost exactly. I set the panel aside to work on the card base.

I used a piece of Paper Trey Ink's Raspberry Patterned paper for the pink on the left side. I used a Lawn Fawn Scalloped Border die to die cut a piece of black pattered paper that I had as a scrap. I then layered these pieces with the stamped image onto the card. It needed something after I assembled it so I added a piece of black ribbon at the top.

My friend LOVED this card but if he didn't, I would have kept it. I really like how it turned out. I think I will be using this design to make a few more for my stash.

I am entering this into Simon Says Stamps "Anything Goes" Wednesday Challenge.

I thank you for stopping by today. Have a great weekend!!

Supplies:
Stamps-Altenew Persion Motifs (sentiment), Stampin Up! "Haute Couture" (retired)
Paper-Paper Trey Ink (white and raspberry), We R Memory Keepers (black)
Copic Markers-RV04, RV06, RV09, RV13
Other-Big Shot, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Stickles "Glam Pink," Lawn Fawn Stitched Borders, Black Ribbon

Creative Timing

Hello everyone!! I hope life is treating you all well. It has been one quick month here. I cannot believe it will be Memorial Day tomorrow. I have about 22 more days of work and then will be out for the summer. I cannot wait!!

We spent the day yesterday planting flowers and our vegetable garden. No photos right now. I always hate what my pots look like when I first plant them. They are so bare!! It has been a beautiful weekend-in the 70's, no humidity. Perfect for being outside.

This morning Chris, Charlotte and I went to Foxwoods Casino to check out the new outlet mall there. This is not a place I would go myself or even with a friend-it would be very dangerous. Eating, gambling AND shopping is a very bad combination for me. I like to do all three!!! We would be broke after I got done. Charlotte was able to find a bunch of things for herself at this mall. Charlotte had a bit of a growth spurt this year and could not wear any of the tops she had bought last summer. We never have time to shop together so it was nice for her to pick out things instead of me picking stuff out, bringing them home for her approval and then bringing back what she does not like. However, since we do not have a lot of time to shop, this is how we have to do it most of the time. Chris just hung out today, holding the bags and watching us spend. After, we had lunch at Junior's in the casino. Such a nice outing.

Today I am sharing a layout and a card that I created. I have not been in my craft room all that much, with the exception of putting away purchases that I SHOULD NOT have made. Once June hits, I do not have a paycheck coming in for a couple months so any kind of shopping will not be going on. I am hoping to create a lot of things with what I have.

The first project I am sharing is a scrapbook page of Charlotte. She had just gotten a hair cut, highlighted and a strip of her hair colored pink. This is not something we have done since. I was trying to get her to leave her hair down more by getting her hair styled but it did not work.

(Supplies)

I had fun layering a bunch of products on this. I usually plan my pages to death but for this, I just layered pieces of patterned paper, die cuts and also did a bit of stamping at the bottom. I just noticed that the "L" in the title is lower case and the rest is upper case. This is because I did not have any more "L's" on my sticker sheet. Sometimes you have to improvise! For a complete list of supplies, please access the link above.

The second project I am sharing is a birthday card. For some reason I am obsessed right now with making them. Not sure why but right now cup cake images are some of my favorite-in stamping and in real life. Who can resist a delicious home made cup cake? Not me!

I used a stencil and some green ink to create the polka dot background. The strips of paper were just scraps I had that matched the yummy cup cakes from Paper Trey Ink's "Baker's Dozen" set. I have to say that this cup cake set is one of my favorites. There are so many yummy images to color in!!

I used some glossy accents on the rose, strawberry and cherry, as well as clear Wink of Stella on the cup cake wrappers. Hard to see from this photo.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday and enjoying themselves. I thank you for taking the time to stop by!!

Supplies for Birthday Card:

Stamps-Paper Trey Ink

Paper-Stamper's Select White by Paper Trey Ink, Scraps

Ink-Memento "Tuxedo Black" and Hero Arts "Soft Green"

Dies-My Favorite Things (circle) and Paper Trey Ink (cupcakes)

Other-Sequins, Glossy Accents, Wink of Stella, Doodlebug Designs Twine "Bubblegum," Foam Adhesive, Big Shot

Throwback Back Thursday

Yesterday felt like a Thursday so today was a disappointment to me!! Not really but it was LOONNNGGG. I am so ready for school to be out and summer to kick in.

Chris was away until last night so I watched the Kurt Cobain documentary "Montage of Heck" on Monday night. It was really interesting but disturbing at the same time. It was an intimate portrait of the MAN Kurt was and how he got there. As I was listening to his parents speak of his childhood and the things that went on, all I could think of was why did they not get him some professional help? He so needed some guidance and maybe his drug use or his tragic death could have been prevented. It was very clear that his parents did not know what to do. It was just so sad and I have been thinking about it for the last two days. I do not usually ruminate on things like this either. I just hate drug use, and heroin in particular. No matter how crappy life is, taking drugs does not make the crap go away. In fact, it makes it worse. The stuff is still there when you come down. Perhaps it is because I am a control freak and being "high" has never really appealed to me that I feel this way. The whole movie just made me sad.

On that lovely note, today I am sharing a card I created using an extremely OLD Stampin Up! stamp set called "Spring Bouquet." I made this card to go into the set of cards my friend bought for her mother.

I used watercolors to color the image in and then die cut it into a square. I mounted the square onto a "Soft Stone" background and then used strips of colored card stock on the top and bottom.

The whole design was really simple. I often have a hard time when I color images like these to know what to do with the panels. I rarely make a one layer card when I watercolor because I always make a mistake and do not want to have to throw the whole thing out.

That is all for now. I thank you for taking the time to stop by. Have a great day!1